A liquid crystal display (LCD) using an active matrix driving method can display a moving picture image using thin film transistors (TFTs) serving as a switching element. LCDs are widely used in computers (e.g., personal computers and notebook computers, etc.), office automation equipment (a copier, etc.), and portable devices (e.g., mobile phones, beepers, etc.) because of its thinness and lightness.
A liquid crystal panel includes a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix, and a plurality of TFTs switching a data signal to be applied to each of the pixels. An image is displayed on a screen when the liquid crystal panel controls an amount of transmitted light supplied from a backlight.
The LCD includes a liquid crystal panel displaying an image and a driving unit driving the liquid crystal panel.
The related art LCD shown in FIG. 1 includes a liquid crystal panel 2 having a plurality of gate lines GL0 to GL n and data lines DL1 to DLm arranged to display a predetermined image, a gate driver 4 driving the gate lines GL0 to GLn, a data driver 6 driving the data lines DL1 to DLm, and a timing controller 8 controlling the gate driver 4 and the data driver 6.
TFT switching devices are formed at the intersections of the gate lines GL0 to GLn and the data lines DL1 to DLm, arranged on the liquid crystal panel 2. The TFT is connected to a pixel electrode (not shown), which is overlapped with the gate lines GL0 to GLn to form a storage capacitor Cst.
The gate driver 4 sequentially applies a scan signal (i.e., gate high voltage VGH) to the gate lines GL0 to GLn according to a control signal generated by the timing controller 8.
The data driver 6 supplies a data voltage to the data lines DL1 to DLm according to a control signal generated by the timing controller 8. The data driver 6 includes output buffers (not shown) corresponding to the data lines DL1 to DLm in the liquid crystal panel 2.
Since the output buffers operate during a non-operation period in which data is not being applied to the liquid crystal panel 2, a current is consumed because of driving the output buffers during the non-operation periods. Thus, power consumption is increased. Heat generated from the data driver 6 is maximized. Therefore, malfunctions of the liquid crystal panel 2 can occur due to the heat generating effect.